15,000 Estate Agents to be made redundant

Are you a DIY Estate Agent?

Estate Agents have taken a lot of flak over the years, but beware, in a difficult market, good Estate Agents will be worth their weight in gold!

As homebuyers try and reduce costs in a difficult market, many turn to DIY home-selling. 

Simply put a ‘For Sale’ board up outside your home and ‘hey presto’, wait for the punters to call at the door (whilst you’re slamming a ready-meal into the microwave/bathing the kids etc).  You might also chose to use a private-sale website, which costs very little and will save you several thousand pounds in the process if you go on to make a sale.  Have you looked at Propertybroker.com and Houseweb.com?

DIY selling involves showing prospective purchasers around the property yourselves, and doing all the donkey work of chasing solicitors to get the sale through.  Be prepared for this to be stressful, particularly if you’re already working full-time. 

When buyers are plentiful (in good times) estate agents will have buyers on tap and because of a demand for properties, prices will be pushed up.  When times are bad, their negotiation skills may be needed to persuade a long chain of purchasers to agree to lower prices to make the sale go through, come what may. 

So whilst you may find it cheaper to DIY Home Sell, when the going gets tough, contact your local professional Estate Agent.

We’d like to hear if you’ve tried a DIY sale, and then had to admit defeat and go through your Local Estate Agent.